In 1981, American introduced the AADVANTAGE travel awards program, a revolutionary marketing program to reward frequent fliers. Also that year it unveiled “AAirpass,” a concept that guaranteed fixed personal and business air travel costs with five-year to lifetime range of options.

@Laughing-Man: Btw, I have a companion pass that I got from Southwest for flying 100 flights last year…they gave it to me for free, and whenever I fly, all it costs is about $5 in TSA BS fees for a companion…no 30 advance purchase BS…nothing!

I’ve never had anything but distaste for southwest. But I will give them that the service I’ve experience and the passenger herding is all complete acceptable under the adage of you get what you pay for.

@dragonfire81:
Yeah, they don’t really elaborate on that “speculative reservations” thing. Was he making reservations for himself and a companion, then only the companion shows up to take advantage of the free flight? I’d say that’s pretty shady if that was the case.

@Hank Scorpio: No. From what I understand about spec reservations, he booked two seats then only HE showed up. The airline probably got mad because they felt like they could have sold the extra seat. Absent a contract provision saying this is not OK, I think the airline would have to prove not only that they would have sold the seat “but for” the man’s failure to notify them in a timely manner that his companion wasn’t coming, but also that they hadn’t already sold the seat in the first place (to him).

@speedwell, avatar of snark: Maybe he felt he needed the extra room, so he books the two seats and knows he is guaranteed to get the extra room when his imaginary companion doesn’t show. Or maybe he actually just has an imaginary friend that always sneaks through security.

@Hank Scorpio: So what, I’m not allowed to buy two seats for myself? I’m a skinny guy so it’s not like I’m buying it in order to “overflow”, but seriously… this guy paid for 2 seats anytime he wants with his lifetime pass. I think he should get 2 seats whether or not there’s asses in them.

@Its The Beer Talking: If he traveled 4 – 8 times a month on AA (as I do) that would be conservatively around 60 flights per year (he stays home for vacations). Let’s say for grins, late 80’s means 1989 then we get to 660 flights. That works out at around $600 per flight and since these passes allow international too, he’s already ahead & it keeps on going.

A speculative reservation would be if he told the airline he intended to fly with a companion in order to hold the extra seat, and then he wound up not flying with a companion. It’s considered abuse because the airline could likely have sold the seat to someone else.

It seems to me that the airline has a couple of tough things to prove. First, they need to prove they would have sold that extra seat. Second, they need to prove they haven’t already sold the extra seat to the man with the passes.

@Kyle: I’m green with envy over you private school rich kids. *I* have to take the ramen packages, slice the cellophane into confetti, then douse them from warm water (stolen from someone else’s hose) and sprinkle dirt over them.
Although, thinly-sliced feral dog, lightly grilled, does wonders for my my steaming mass of faux-noodle goodness. Or, is that “Pho” noodle? (I’m SUCH a card!)

AA better have had a clause in their terms of sale back in ’88 that defines what they are trying to assert. Otherwise, a jury trial (and there would be a jury trial-no binding arbitration bullshit for individuals in those days) might just cost them plenty.

If I were sitting on a jury , I don’t believe that the “speculative reservations” shuck and jive would pass the laugh/bladder control test.They would have a HUGE burden of proof to overcome…

But let’s be clear – I’d be pissed as hell if I paid $400K for two lifetime passes and then they took them away because I didn’t show up with another person. I GAVE YOU ALMOST A HALF MILLION DOLLARS!!!

@Vanilla5: The _B_illions we’ve given the airlines, banks and other companies has been accepted as though we owed it to them. A few hundred thou by some guy 20 years ago means nothing to them, and they’d prefer he die or violate the rules so they’re off the hook.

These are industries who routinely hand out millions of our money per _year_ in bonuses to employees who have created the mess their companies are in.

Frequent flyer programs are basically like Paypal – acting like a “bank” with absolutely no regulation and they can change the value of your assets or kick you out by fiat with the stroke of a pen.

His first pass was for 250K for himself. Two years later he paid 150K for another “companion” pass. Maybe “speculative” means he impressed the girl of the week with a first class flight anywhere she wanted and canceled those occasions where his prospective girl of the wasn’t available. However I’m just “speculating” myself.

it takes some balls to buy a lifetime airline ticket, considering the lifetime of most airlines tends to be relatively brief. if he’d picked almost any of the other major airlines of the 80s (anyone remember Pan-Am and Eastern along with countless others?)he’d have really been stuck

I am surprised that they didn’t revoke him earlier on some sort of 9/11 related balderdash.

The lifetime deal would have been especially sweet in the era prior to ID requirements for tickets. He could have made some serious cash from walk ups on sold out flights. Some of us remember when you could not only just walk up to the gate (after the lame security check) but buy a ticket from someone not able to fly in cash and then get on the plane. I think that changed around the time of Lockerbee and the need to link luggage to the person flying. Of course the airlines used it to kill this 2nd sale of tickets and charge rebooking fees.

I’ll bet he was trying to make some bucks by selling his “companion” ticket on ebay or craigslist. Airline probably got suspicious when the “companions” kept changing. Say he needs to fly somewhere, he puts up an online ad for the first class companion ticket (say at the bargain rate of a grand), and if it don’t sell, so what, doesn’t cost him nothin’ extra. Do that a couple dozen times a year and he’s pulling in 25K annual.

Reaction to American Airlines’ new “Aairpass” travel scheme has pleased the carrier. Purchase of one of a range of Aairpasses allows the buyer to travel on any American Airlines flights for a five, 10, or 15 year period (or even for a lifetime ).

The fare plan, to be offered for a limited time, comprises five options:

Five, 10 and fifteen year Aairpass tickets entitle the holder to 25,000 tourist class miles a year at a cost of $19,000, $39,500 and $58,900 respectively.

Lifetime Aairpass tickets for those ages 52 and above, allow 25,000 miles a year at $66,000.

Leisure Lifetime Aairpass for the over 62 age group allows 12,500 miles a year at $51,000.

A five-year Leisure Aairpass for over 65’s provides 12,500 miles a year for $8,000.

An unlimited Lifetime Aairpass valid for unlimited miles in any class of service at $250,000.

The airline had received 1,500 enquiries from people interested in the fixed-rate, long-term flight plan within a week of it’s announcement.

American has sold two Aairpasses, one for a five year period and one of the ten-year tickets. The carrier says it did not expect an instant rush for the passes, because it is the “sort of thing people need to think about.”

American’s major competitors, Trans World and United, said they had been aware that American was planning to launch a major new marketing project, but were unaware of the details. A TWA spokesman said that the airline was “preparing a competitive response very soon.” But it looks now as if TWA will do nothing unless Aairpass shows better results than it has so far.

Perhaps somewhere along the line, they amended their free-tickets agreement. But he could’ve opted out of the changes if he’d only bought all his future tickets right then and there. So he opted in, and agreed to the changes.

I also find it funny that there’s so much speculation about what a speculative reservation is.

Another case of “did you read your contract?”. I am sure AMR had a contract that stated what this guy could and could not do. Smells like he screwed up. Oldest game in the book: break the rules, void the contract, then bitch and complain until you get your way.

That picture reminds me….how about AA come up with a paint scheme that actually works with 21st century composites? The engine nacelles, radome on the nose, and vert/horiz. stabilizers look like someone buffed them with Clearasil or something.

Another thing that the article did not mention is that the pass was originally purchased in the 80’s by a church for him to use as humanitarian purposes. The passes were issued in his name, not the name of the church.

AA has been trying to find a way to cancel his passes for a long time.

I think it’s safe to say that you’d only make this deal if you flew very, very often, so all of your estimates are likely grossly off. I mean, think of the interest you could make on $400k over that period of time, or some other investment. It’s not a terrible investment if you travel frequently, but it’s not the best either considering the bankruptcy risk factor etc, so I’m assuming that this dude was commuting every single day or something via airplane, which would easily make the initial price plus loss of any return on that money worth the investment.

I’m sure what happened is this: He routinely books two seats on every flight even when he is travelling alone, so that he will always have the row to himself. He tries to claim that he DID have a friend, they just keep cancelling at the last minute (which is where the “speculative” comes from)

His argument: I paid for that second seat already, so I can do whatever I want with it.

Their argument: we sold you these lifetime tickets knowing that the odds are you would frequently use only one instead of two seats. If you had wanted to buy an empty seat next to you every single time you are travelling alone, we would have charged you more money. After all, they carged him substantially less for the “companion” seat than they were charging for the first seat. They were able to charge less because they projected it wouldn’t be used as much as the first seat.